The ‘Hoos, uncharacteristically, managed only six hits against Boston College, and left 13 on base, in an 8-2 loss in front of 1,750 fans on a frigid night up north.
Frigid is understating it. It was g-d damn freezing cold for late April, even in New England.
“You know, candidly, Boston College beat us in every facet of the game. You know, they outpitched us, their approach was better at the plate than ours, they played really good defense. It just wasn’t our night,” UVA coach Brian O’Connor said after the game.
Sad thing was, the starting pitcher, Evan Blanco, who looked good, giving up five hits in six-plus innings, took the loss, in front of about 100 of his close family.
I don’t think I’m exaggerating there.
Blanco is a native of nearby Woburn, Mass., about 15 miles up the road from Boston.
I sat in the Blanco family section, in the front row, as it turns out.
The adults let the kids, many of whom who play for the local youth baseball program that Blanco pitched for, sit as close to the nets as was allowed.
Blanco more than did his job. He allowed a solo homer to Parker Landwehr in the third, a shot to right-center, and a two-run homer off the bat of Vince Cimini that wrapped around the Pesky Pole in the fourth.
The pregame tour guide told us that the pole is 297 feet from home plate, that MLB told the Red Sox that the pole needed to be 300 feet from home plate, that the Sawx just painted over the 297, said it was now 302, and didn’t move the foul pole the extra five feet, so, that one was basically a homer in one of MLB’s 30 ballparks, but such is life.
The issue wasn’t UVA’s pitching. It was the hitting, or lack thereof.
BC’s pitchers walked eight UVA hitters, and hit two others, so, the ‘Hoos had runners on the basepaths all night long.
The issue was, they couldn’t get the clutch hit.
“I mean, it’s just baseball,” O’Connor said. “It happens sometimes. I mean, they walked, I think, eight or nine of our hitters and, you know, we had a lot of opportunities, you know, it’s just in those opportunities, our approach wasn’t what it needed to be, you know, and we didn’t, you know, barrel balls out up. There was a lot of strikeouts, you know, a lot of, too many strikeouts looking.”
BC pitchers recorded 12 Ks on the night. Virginia was 2-for-17 with runners on base, and 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
You don’t win a lot of games with those numbers.
“You know, listen, this offensive team has done the job all year long, and they’ve, they’ve carried this team, candidly, and, you know, it just didn’t happen tonight. You know, we had opportunities, we just couldn’t cash in on it,” O’Connor said.
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Chris Graham
